Removing plaster and installing sheetrock

I am in the process of brainstorming remodel plans.

Here's the situation : This house I will work on has old wiring, few outlets, and paneling over lath and plaster walls (an assumption). The paneling is likely put up with nails, not certain yet. I want to paint walls certain colors, and paneling is going to prevent that as far as I know. I also need to install new / more outlets so I don't know about leaving it up for that purpose either.

I would like to put some outlets in exterior walls, and I think they have a form of insulation possibly blown in. Would it be okay to leave the lath up to hold it in and put drywall over the lath with a bit longer screws?

Advertisement

I am in the middle of doing my front room right now. I found that the blown in cellulose had settled almost a foot at the top and was absent from many places altogether. So I quickly decided to strip it down to studs so I could install fiberglass. Another thing to consider with leaving the lath in place is future anchor placement. The lath will make this very frustrating.

One way would be to rip out the lath, more work and mess, I know. But it would be nice to have it down to the studs to run new wiring.
Do you know if you have proper studs behind the lath? You need to find out.
Trying to sheetrock over a wobbly lath wall is going to be a nightmare if you want it to look decent.
Once you have it all exposed and the wiring is run, you can insulate properly and easily now.
This might be the better way and worth it in the long run.
Good luck.